Bel Ami (2013)

First of all, I'm going to apologise for my horrible english ( and please be nice, this is my first review XD ). I decided to write this review not only because i've seen how many people are hesitating to watch this drama but also because the majority who tried to watch it just watched 2 or 3 episodes ( which is not enought to judge ).


The first episodes are annoying I can't lie about that, but it starts to get interesting as we watch it.
The character's development is slow but that's good in my opinion ( I can't stand it when a character changes from a big jerk in episode 1 to a cute little bunny in episode 2 ... it seems too unnatural ).The story is quite simple, it's about a perfect guy ( Ma Te/ Jang Geun Suk ) who had a difficult life ( He never met his father and he and his mother were poor )but because of this circumstances he comes to love his mother more than anywone in the world and tries to take advantage of his looks to give her a better life(for the ones who think he's just full of himself, in my opinion, he is not, I think he just depends a lot on his looks because he thinks he can't rely on anything else since people seem to only care about that ( if you watch at least 10 episodes you will understand what I'm saying). One day He meets a mysterious woman who tells him that he is the son of the president of a big company. This woman turns out to be his father's ex-daughter-in-law and now she wants Ma Te's Help in taking revenge of his father's wife who ''destroyed'' her life. Ma te agrees with helping her and this is how the ''adventure'' begins. ( at this rate i will end up telling you all the story so i shall end up here )

Regarding Kim Bo tong (.IU), I love her, she is the cutest character in this drama, I can't understand why people don't like her... I can identify with her because in reality she is nothing more than one hell of a fangirl (just like me XD...everytime she talks about Ma Te I end up thinking if I look like her when I'm talking aboyt my favorite actors XD ) she is funny and lovely I can't hate her XD ( I didn't know .IU, but now I am her fan)

There are a lot of other good characters such as Choi David and Hong Yoo Ra ^^

If you give this drama a chance I know that you will like it ^^

I apologise for my Horrible English again XD

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i love JGS but this drama dragged so much i kept putting it on long for the longest time. things dint start hitting up until the episode with the little brat. IU did a good job acting her part from the beginning. hong yu ra was every bit annoying and sassy that i dint care for her. she had the same makeup, hairstyle and expression throughout and in the latter episodes she was either drinking coffee or on the phone. the mother was evil and also had one look throughout the show, the son was just a waste of show, the other kid was alright but the very last scene of the episode is too much, cliche. the last episodes were so rushed it was obvious. in the summary it says ma te seduces 10 women but he actually only does 5 or 6. the others were plugged in out of rush just to fulfill the numbers which dint make sense. anyways its a one time thing im glad its over.

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Let's talk about the STORY first shall we?

First of all you should watch with the idea that this was originally a Manhwa in mind. Secondly, don't expect much romance between the lead characters, but when the romance actually happens, I assure you, your heart will beat 1000 beats a second xD the romance between the second male lead and IU is sure THERE.. like.. in EACH MOMENT LOL It's very heartbreaking though T^T ..

I love the COMEDY, made me fall off my chair sometimes xD I laughed so hard in this drama ..

This is a full story with different twists and very new ideas(don't listen to those who were expecting a Shoujo Manga).. some people were simply expecting a typical chaebol-looking-for-his-seat-and-fighting-for-the-girl-he-loves k-drama.. but nope this focuses more on the development of the main character Matte... HE'S THE ONLY ROUND CHARACTER IN THIS DRAMA WHICH IS SUPER INTERESTING XD If you know a bit of literature you would know that a round character is a character that changes as the story goes. Of course like all fan girls I wanted more Romance but I still loved how the focus was more on the plot rather than the romance.


Enough with the story xD

CAST

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Great actors in a not so great story...

In the world of film/drama/movie making there are objective factors, that makes a movie/drama great and this in fact leaves many questions, it works with dubious values and sometimes it does not give a solution to a problem that it brought up on its own (eg. in the last ep he says Bo Tong should forget him as he will become a chaebol's son, inheriting the company and he should then marry from the upper class -- well, he throws these things away and marry Botong just like that?). Also, near the end, it seemed like the drama started to forget that there should be 10 women that he SEDUCES, in the end he didn't actually seduce them and it is also questionable how the 10 women is actually counted (one of them is Bo Tong, but where did he seduce her? she's the one who doesnt need that as she was already in love with him)...
so no wonder one can say it has plotholes and yes, the company's machinations that supposed to be interesting and should stick you to your chair thinking what is happening, who's who and why he doin this and that -- like a good mystery novel -- well those scenes were boring, uninteresting, no questions about it.
But!
with all of its mistakes, faults, I really loved it, enjoyed it as a typical, cliché-filled lemonade story for the weekend as I (as a person) am as crazy fan of this genre as Botong adores his pretty oppa 😍
I think the actors did their bests it is just the story is not that big. But the characters I loved (especially Botong, so damn cute *.*), the women were interesting on their own, sometimes I just felt this drama wants to be so many things in a very short airing time... Some things were a bit over-explained, overthought, some scenes couldve even been dropped as they didnt add anything much to the story (like Botongs mom and brother), but JGS definitely carried this on his back, he got the looks, girl suited him, I loved his jelousy and all of his love scenes (even at the end), tho couldve been a better romance, more kiss scenes :(
their hug's were somewhat not that close, which was weird...
his personal life with his mom(s) was a bit overdramatized for me, tho I usually like maturing scenes, here I think it proves the ruin of the story, which should be a romcom and it really is at the beginning. But with overdramatizing it loses its charm gradually and it becomes less funny too. Ok that you can't be joking around in your life like forever but here we come to see the what ifs, not necessarily the reality, there couldve been more romance and still somewhat charming and funny scenes at the end, but because they kinda messed up with the plot (meaning its climax were totally at a wrong place, came too late, couldn't be resolved but only in a rush, etc.) it is no wonder charming scenes couldnt come anywhere. The way of leading the plot was the weirdest to me, but I agree with anyone who says it's a decent drama on its own, wouldn't recommend it anybody tho, only those who are suckers of romcom like me and pretty faces and some funny jelousies are enough for them to love something <3

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Slow burn romantic comedy drama plus the typical rich family 'heir' problems

Pretty Man is quite a story that tried to put several genres in one. The story also lacks emotional development on most parts specially on the first few episodes where they only try to emphasize glam and beauty of the male lead, Jang Geun Seuk, which is a bit annoying because of the narcissism. There's no logical reason as to why the male lead needs to use women as a stepping stone for his goals. Good thing is that it starts becoming a bit bearable when IU and Lee JangWoo started to appear and sparks chemistry between them. The comedy added flavor to it like when the love triangle happened it's not too heavy to watch. Male lead meeting different woman and using his face to get his way is a total non-sense, they could've just introduced new characters on a more natural way than introducing it as a mission. On the latter part, the drama was able to introduce some emotions to the character so from a fading flame, it started to ignite again. Indeed a slow burn drama.

As for the casting, Jang Geun Seuk's role is pretty similar with his other drama. MaTe's character is too shallow that I can't understand where is he coming from. I'm not sure if it's the story or the character but the egoistic character is so annoying that I stopped after few episodes. Good thing it gets better towards the end. IU, on the other hand played perfectly being cute and optimistic which actually matched Lee JangWoo's character. Somewhere in the middle I actually think that they were a better pair than IU and Jang GeunSeuk which almost look like a brother-sister. The other characters like the women that Jang GeunSeuk met perfectly portrayed their characters as well.

The music wasn't really connected with the drama itself aside from the song that JangWoo sang. The other songs were like a mood setter. Because of it's slow burn plot, it's hard to re-watch it because the good parts starts in the middle, it's very hard to get past on the first few episodes without getting pissed.

If you have a spare time, I recommend this still because despite the problematic plot, there were life lessons included in this drama. Just be patient and wait for it to start being good towards the end.

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Before saying my opinion about this exact drama I would like to say that I'm a personal fan of Jang Geun Suk's dramas and acting.. his acting is so natural and it gets to me even in his sad scenes you can feel how realstic his sadness is
this Drama is no different for him he's acting is still A+ for me

ok now about THIS exact Drama!

first the story: the material of the story is really good and it actually is different somehow and by the means of different is that the story is almost what seems like an adventure for the protagonist and personally I like these kinds of stories
the character development for the main character (Dok go ma te) is logical and I felt like as a watcher that I'm understanding each thought and each move by the main character like I'm in his shoes which in turn made me think that the character development was actually good and it led me to respect him by the end of the drama
can't say the same thing about the heroine as much though I hated how clingy is she to him..she was more like a stalker than a lover and in a creepy way it didn't last long in the drama luckily but I had to say that it was a turn off
the plot twists specially in the end were average I expected some and I didn't expect the rest with a series filled with lots of plot twists like this it actually added more to the story and prevented me from getting bored that I actually waited each day how things ended up
I give the story 6.5 because even though the story had a good material but sometimes there were some cliches specially in the end and I found it a bit cheesy also the author could have done better with the heroine's character development and for the whole characters mainly

Acting: As I said in the beginning of the review I love Jang Geun Suk's acting mainly and this drama wasn't any different he did a good job plus he fits the character and he's already used to play the heart throb guy character in most of his dramas so it fits him a lot
as for IU She's good as a comedian like always..she did a good job with portraying this stupid clingy heroine (hahaha JK!)
the rest of the crew were amazing and personally the best acting goes for Han Chae Young I liked how she played the pretty and calm but dangerous kind of woman and of course Kim Bo Yun was a great antagonist I actually hated her
I give the acting 7.5 because I think they could've done better though

Music: I know when the music is good when I'm like (when I'm done I'll search for it to download it) and also I keep unconsciously humming it
since I didn't do that then I didn't like it so I give it a 4 it was the not bad type but I heard way better

Rewatch or not? : I'm not the kind of person to rewatch a drama but if I had to say it would be no because it just didn't click with me that's all

overall: the drama was decent and it wasn't boring at all I recommend it to who like dramas that has main character who's aiming for a traget and goes for an adventure to find out how to get to it
and also if you like lots of plot twists and surprises this drama's for you
finally hope this review was useful and doesn't contain spoilers

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Drama start with a good Note first two episodes introduce the lead characters story then the drama getting bored ,no craze ,no charm ,no felt connectivity with the story of the character .then last three episodes were good .but password secret was not that much connective .as a whole it is a boring story.
I think lead actress should go with second lead because he was there for her in hers whole journey but she was pursuing first lead since last 10 years ...but he never realised her feeling and told her to wait for him till he find a true love what is this totally messed up story.

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I honestly don't know how to explain this dramas plot. There were confusing birth secrets. (Illegitimate children everywhere. Everywhere illegitimate children.) There were too many women for Ma Te to learn from and not enough time spent with each of them. There was a password/passcode thing that ended up serving no purpose. There were corporate machinations that ended up just being confusing and silly. (And really, really boring.) And there was no romance, absolutely none, until the very end of the drama. And by That point, the story had fallen completely flat and the only reason I was sticking around was for Bo Tong.

First, I don’t like Ma Te. He started out as your typical 'good-looking' guy who thinks he's the bees knees, God's gift to humanity, the greatest thing since sliced bread, and to be fair, he's clearly never had anyone tell him otherwise so why shouldn't he believe that about himself? But really, he was pretty boring...and annoying...and kind of dumb. (And not the slightest bit attractive but what do I know. [They would give him a nice hairstyle, and I'd start to come around, then they'd screw it all up by turning his hair into a mop. Seriously, who was coming up with those hairstyles?!])

But he wasn't an awful character. In many ways, he was a good character. He was arrogant in a way that was sort of comical. Every time something didn't work out how he wanted, I was pumping my fists in excitement. His character was at his best when he was failing.

But failure came very rarely for Ma Te. Things were way too easy for him. Every woman he encountered fell for him. Every time he faced some kind of challenge at the company, it miraculously worked out in his favor. Granted, it was often because someone else with actual power and influence fixed things, but even then, Ma Te got all the credit.

He did get a 'final hour' emotional growth spurt, but it was completely unearned and I disliked him too much by then to care.

As for the entire conceit of the drama, the women (minus Bo Tong), each felt alternatively dynamic and boring. Sometimes the lesson Ma Te was meant to learn from them was clear, and other times I was scratching my head wondering why this random woman had wandered onto my screen where she clearly did not belong.

Then there's David. David broke my heart with all his heartbreaking wonderfulness. Which made it Oh So Frustrating when he turned into That character. You know the one. You’ll find them in every Asian drama known to man. They’ve been rejected. They’ve been turned down. They’ve been ignored. The lead has made their stance known, and it’s time for them to raise the white flag. But they refuse to let go.

I don’t know if the writer’s were just so in love with David that the only way for them to justify not giving him the girl was to make him look like a baby so they didn't have to feel bad about their choice or if they were just suffering from such an acute case of second lead feels that they got temporarily lost in those feelings, but they spent so much time on Bo Tong and David and David's inability to just move on that they did next to nothing to move Bo Tong and Ma Te's relationship along. And you might say at this point in the review 'That's hypocritical. You like Bo Tong, and she's every bit as much That character as David, so what gives?' What gives is I like stories where the jerky, self-important character gets a dose of their own medicine and finds themselves falling for someone they think is beneath them and through falling for them learns to be a not terrible person anymore, and you can't make me feel bad about that, so there.

Ultimately, the only thing that made the anguish that was watching this drama the slightest bit worth it, was Bo Tong. I frickin’ love Bo Tong.

Frickin’.

Love.

She was the only consistent character in the entire drama, she had GREAT fashion sense (FIGHT ME ON THAT), she was delightfully quirky and optimistic without being ridiculous, she was over the top, and I loved it.

Also, IU is such a good crier. My gosh.

To sum up, I think it's clear the writers bit off more then they could chew with this story. 10 women was too many. 6 would have been more doable. The lessons Ma Te was supposed to learn from each of them weren't always clear or even interesting. The family drama was ridiculous and confusing and added very little to the overall story. The illegitimate children plot was confusing, and the secret code concept was completely wasted. The business machinations made me roll my eyes. And there was no romance until the final hour. Tell us the truth writers. Did you actually have any sort of plan for this drama? Did you really want Bo Tong and Ma Te to end up together? Does any of it even matter? For my part, the answer is no.

(Rewatch is 1 because I can't choose zero.)

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Pretty Man/ Bel-ami (2013) - I don't know why people didn't like this one because I find this drama really good. For me, it's one of IU's recommended dramas, though I don't like her character here. It was hard for me to move to the next episodes after watching the first episode because it does not really appealed to me, first turn off was the character of IU. Eventually, I did find the sense or the purpose of the drama and like watching it along the way. I did accept the characters in the drama and there are mind blogging parts in the drama that I was not ready, which are good points for me as a watcher.

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A piece of IU history nevertheless.

Well... It was okay. Kind of weak honestly. I stopped watching by episode 12 because I just didn't care about how it ended, and I wanted to start watching something else. IU was good but, this was her first drama and she was 20yrs old in this. (Wow what a difference even 3 yrs made when she did Scarlet Heart! It's like she grew up SO MUCH during that time. And now, at 25 yrs old she is just amazing overall). So, yeah this is a glimpse at a very "young" IU in a drama that is just "okay". I even like the male lead in this, and all the other dramas he's in. It's just the story itself was not very strong.

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